Offense:
21

Defense:
9

Utility:
0

Sticking True To The Job At Hand

Poppy is by far one of the most fun and challenging champions to play in League of Legends. In this guide I will be going over not just a build I have designed but a way to really make this build do it's job. Every item in the build allow's you to do the roll Poppy is designed to do, that roll is eliminating the enemy. In team fights say 5 v 5 for instance, each team is going mid and it is mid to late game. All five champions on each team can make a big difference in that fight. By mid to late game it is fairly easy to see who the biggest threat is to your team. (The dps with too many AP/AD Stacks, got fed early on, good CC) Your job as Poppy at this stage in the game is to not rush in swinging and die out fast, you do have a lot of CC if you use this build to your advantage. As Poppy you want to be able to eliminate that one person that really hurts your team in team fights as early as possible and still be at a significant amount of health to at least severely injure or kill another enemy or two. No matter who the target is you want to have the means to make sure they die, no matter what. This is why in this build we hold very true to the offensive side and the job Poppy has to fulfill.

Pros / Cons

Pros:
Extremely high burst damage
Charge for initiating or escaping enemy's
Stun
Works great with any other type of champion for laning/zone control
I would say one of the best if not the best turret diver
Can 1 v 1 well even early game
Can 2 v 1 or greater odds mid/later game
Someone you DO NOT want to turret dive
Very helpful even if not fed
If fed, it's GG
The best Anti-Carry Carry in game

Cons:
Horrible farmer early game
Very squishy early game
Rely's on walls early game to land kills (not hard to do, will explain later)
Lack of mana early game

Summoner Spells

and

First off, lets get one thing straight right here, if your playing poppy your after kills and towers most of the game. With that in mind, there is no such thing as over kill.

Exhaust is a must for poppy, it allows poppy to make the enemy she is targeting useless for 5 seconds with them being stunned the first 1.5 seconds. Exhaust allows you to be able to hold your own 1 v 1 easily, perfect for escaping if need be, nothing like being ganked by 3 or 4 people deep in enemy territory, throw your ulti + Exhaust on one of the enemy's, and you have 6 seconds to get plenty of distance between you and them.

Ignite is by far the best thing to have in your arsenal of tricks you will use when humiliating your enemy. This little spell allows you to turret dive so successfully it should not be allowed. Ignite does not only pack a good punch to help get that first blood, it puts a stop to those pesky healers, especially Mundo. All you have to do to rack up kills from the time you are level 6 and then on is anyone low on life hugging that turret, throw on your ulti, charge them into terrain, throw a Devastating Blow ONLY if needed, the objective here is not to actually kill them while your still in turret range, even though most of the time if you do it's okay, you just might have to heal. Once they are low and your sure ignite will finish them off, pop it and run out while your ulti is still laughing at that turret damage. That is how to get the perfect turret dive while taking no damage at all, talk about a way to push a turret down in under the 10 minute mark. Any enemy team you fight that has a jungler, make sure you are on the side of the solo lane as it will be very likely they will be hugging that turret low on life and once you land that turret dive, it's time to drop that turret and move on to your next objective.

Some people take Ghost or Teleport, which can be handy in some situations, but they just don't stack up to the force having Exhaust + Ignite together can do to an enemy from first blood to end game.

Masteries

21/9/0 is the way to go. Sticking true to offense allows you to do more damage. Taking the Exhaust and Ignite masteries allow for more damage and better kill chances. The 9 in defense allows for a little bit more survivability early game when you need it the most and the dodge bonus part of it stacks so well with this build you cannot turn it down.

Runes

These are a must for this build, The added dodge landing you at almost 21% dodge with your Ninja Tabi's and masteries allow you to stay in the fight a great deal longer, can't go wrong beings your main threats are other melee high dps champs.

The CDR from these runes are very helpful to landing as many Devastating Blow's. Take the flat seal's because it helps a good bit for landing that 2nd DB for those early kills.

Normally I would say Magic Pen, but having an extra 20+% crit damage is just insane from runes. I could not pass this up, holding true to the offensive side of poppy and what her job is as a carry. With masteries adding to spell pen I could not pass the crit increase up.

Three of these runes gives you 78 more life, not a great deal, but early game, this is very helpful in your survival and ability to stay in your lane longer. Other options if you plan to play it more safe before your ulti is adding another 13.38% critical damage.

Skills & Skill Sequence

Poppy's skill set her apart from any other melee dps champion. Poppy's skill all play together so well that if used correctly you can bring some CC and play a huge part in any team fight.

This passive is perfect for Poppy. This allows Poppy to be a lot harder to kill than meets the eye. The lower the health she has, the less damage she is able to receive per hit. This passive does not apply to turret shots.

(Offense)
Devastating Blow is by far one of the most powerful spells in the game for the cost and cooldown. This is your main source of burst damage. The more MAX health the target has, the more damage this ability does. With the mana cost only being 55 no matter the level, the low cooldown, and the damage this ability does, You can't ask for better.

(Offense/Defense)
Paragon of Demacia or PoD as I like to call it, can be used both offensively and defensively. PoD adds temporary attack damage and armor per each strike you deal or receive passively. Activating this ability put's you at full stacks and gives you a hefty movement increase. You can active this ability to chase or escape enemy's with ease fairly often. You can always use it to help line up that perfect charge initiator before the enemy has time to react.

(Offense/Defense)
Heroic charge will allow you to quickly close the gap or extend the gap between you and your enemy's. Yes, extend the gap, when farming minions it is always a good idea to place yourself with a few minions behind you. If ambushed you can easily charge the minion behind you to add some quick distance between you and your enemy's. Heroic charge also allows you catch and even stun your enemy given the opportunity. Patients is a huge virtue to the success of this ability. Taking the time to bait or line up an opponent to collide with any terrain, even turrets, can add massive damage and a hefty stun to work your magic on your victim.

Your Ultimate is what makes Poppy able to do things and come out of situations no other champion could dream of doing. The site is a bit off, each level added adds 1 second to the time (8 seconds at level 3) making it now worth it to add the point into it when you can to buy you more time, we all know one second can make all the difference in LoL. When you select a target to place your Ultimate on, only they can damage you, not minions, other enemy champions, not even turrets! This allows you many options. You can place it on the person you wish to eliminate very quickly thanks to the added damage, or place it on someone who cannot CC you and damage you that much and take the given time to eliminate one or more other enemy champions who cannot even touch you. This will allow you to play your part successfully in any team fight if used correctly.

The skill order I have chosen allows you to get maximum benefits out of poppy all around. Your charge allows you quickly add some CC into game play while still adding moderate damage, always take this first. Level 2 you grab Devastating Blow to add a significant chunk of damage output. Level 3 you take your Paragon of Demacia for the simple fact it helps you in every way possible, speed increase to chase or escape, extra damage, and extra armor for better survival. Once you hit that stage you are ready to begin maxing out Devastating Blow, Taking your Ultimate at level 6. Maxing out Devastating Blow once you have 1 point in all your ability's is honestly a no brainer if you look at it. The mana cost never increases, great for that low starting mana pool. The damage increase and the cool down reduction per level allows you to place multiple hits from this ability onto a target during a single fight. The CD for Heroic Charge just is not low enough to add skills into it until Devastating Blow is Maxed out. The Stun time is already 1.5 at level one which is what your really after in this skill. Take Paragon of Demacia past level 1 after you have Devastating Blow and Heroic Charge maxed out, this allows you apply maximum damage as early as possible.

Items

Your items for Poppy are:

Purchase Order: Start off by grabbing + two
This will give you the extra mana, plus plenty of health to land a first blood or exchange some hits with enemy and still stay at full health without returning to base. You don't wanna be having to go back to base to early that you can't buy your next items.

Your first trip back try to have 1210 gold or more to buy +

Sheen does so much for you early in the game, it adds a little bit more to your low mana pool, adds AP making your spells hit harder, and most important adds to that burst damage of yours by making that next attack after you just stunned them into a wall to do an extra 100% damage.(yes 100%, not 80%, game has chanced but site has not.) Rushing this item and taking only +1 speed boots or no boots is okay as you rely on your stun/exhaust to kill anyways. Let's face it, if you cant kill someone in 5 seconds of them being completely useless standing there to die, +1 boots + will let land a few more hits + place ignite.

These little babies right here add 12% dodge! Never before have I seen these added into a build with Poppy. I am honestly not sure why, let's face it, Poppy's worst enemys are other meele carry's. Squishy casters we can drop so fast they are asking what happened, it is yi, jax, xin, etc etc that are the real threat to Poppy. With these boots + your dodge runes + dodge masteries you now have almost 21% dodge chance way early in the game. That is outrageous when you go to adding and the fact that you get 10% movement speed for a dodged attack for 5 seconds! This means that escaping or chasing someone that has found out there gonna die at your hand has a less chance to succeed as you just got a free speed boost. I mean and come on 25 armor on top of that...OKAY, THANKS!

This item right here is just impossible to turn away as Poppy. Poppy benefits from EVERYTHING this has to ofter. Not only does it add to anything you could possible want to add including that low mana pool and low health, it adds more movement speed! Some people don't like this item on Poppy, but some people just don't get the point. No item out there has the benefits that this gives poppy, much less the fact you build right into from your very first item! You can't pass this up, adding more attack dmg + 150% bonus dmg after ability, can't deny the burst damage here. Oh wait! Slowing effect?? You mean to tell me I am gonna be super fast, have a charge to catch/stun enemys and now you wanna add a slow on hit? Why not! By the time you get this item you already have everything you need to pump out high burst damage extremely fast and lock that champion into place for the killing. Let's face it, with the items building into Trinity Force, you can't turn this down. All you have to decide on now depending how the match is going is building into this item. Get more health, attack dmg that stacks with sheen, and a slowing effect first. Maybe movement increase, attack speed, and crit chance. Honestly Either way you cant go wrong.

This item, I dunno, it just adds so much to the build I use to get two of them to be honest. The movement bonus just makes you uncatchable and pretty much impossible to get away from. The item also gives you more crit chance and attack speed. The crit is a huge plus and there is nothing like getting a crit on your 150% attack dmg bonus from Trinity Force. The attack speed right now is just an added bonus to deal more AD and not rely so much on magic damage, making you harder to counter. Not to forget attack speed is gonna play a huge part in the rest of your build.

At only 450 gold this item benefits you more than most realize. Not only does it make you a good bit harder to kill, it allows you to do something very important to the success of catching up or getting ahead in your build. With this + Trinity Force & Phantom Dancer you can now actually do some farming! Not just any farming, this allows you instead of going back to heal and making no money, you can farm for health at the same time you are racking up gold. You are gonna want to be getting buffs often as all of them benefit poppy nicely, especially the Golem Buff! This item is not quite as effective before you get your Dancer but sometimes it is not a bad choice if your fighting tough enemy that do not CC alot.

Not only does this item allow Poppy to pump out even more damage both AD and AP, this baby gives 20% life steal & 25% Spell Vamp. For those of you that do not know what spell vamp is, it is life steal for your spells! I am sorry but 25% of your spell damage output is a good chunk alone not to mention 20% of your AD attacks. Hextech also gives you a nice little active ability allowing you to farther slow your enemy's + deal more damage to them, with a 700 range on the active ability its rather handy. Works very well for those kills where you would like to slow beyond the point of escape without wasting that exhaust. This is hands down better than . There is just no comparison here.

This item stacks so well with this build, you can't turn it down. The attack speed, attack damage and armor is all VERY beneficial to high burst damage, but the fact that now on top of every hit you land you do an additional 4% of there MAX, not current health, in damage. This will allow you drop anything very fast, even tanks. The 4% max health damage is also magic damage which adds more life you gain from your spell vamp. I suggest if that the life steal from is enough and survivability really is not a problem for you, just take this item before your Hextech, the damage output stacked on top of your Trinity Force + Phantom Blade makes you an unforgettable threat.

I always save this item for last, most of the time you will never get to this stage of your build in a game. IF you do, There is no replacement item for this. This throws your crit chance entirely to high not to get it for what it does. A huge chunk of attack damage plus a higher crit damage output makes Poppy...Well pretty much unstoppable. Unless you are CC'd to death where you can't attack you will be able to gain more life than the damage you are taking due to your ulti and passive.

Game Progression

Poppy is easily capable of playing a major roll in game progression for your team through out the entire match. Once you start you are either gonna be doing one of two thing very soon, taking zone control and pushing your lane to there turret, or defending your turret while your enemy pushes. If you find yourself able to control your lane you have a few options. Poppy is an extremely terrible farmer early game, unable to use her ability's to farm due to a low mana pool. With that in mind I like to apply Zone Control to my lane. Up until level 6 any champion will find it hard to successfully turret dive for a kill given normal circumstances. With that in mind it is not very beneficial to push your lane to there turret until that time. Work with your lane partner to instead ONLY grab last hits on minions to keep the lane centered between the two turrets. Now you can set up Zone Control. While your partner is in the lane taking last hits you can easily hide in the bush near the enemy turret. Now that you are in place you can force enemy's who have fled to the turret for protection to either come in range to get XP or be forced to try other desperate ways. With you hiding in the bush it is not very hard to dodge pesky harassment attempt to harm you from champions like Mundo and Nidalee, allowing you several options. Anyone who comes into XP Zone has just made a huge nono, they are smack between you and terrain, charge them and land a devastating blow, even if they flee you will apply a significant amount of damage and possible land an easy kill. If they charge into the bush be waiting as far to the outside of the bush closest to them as possible. As soon as they enter the bush they have now place themselves between you and terrain. Stun them and with Ignite and Exhaust you can land a quick kill or even stun to evade if you are unsure of victory. 1.5 seconds of stun + 17% movement speed will buy you plenty of time to flee.

If you are on the defensive and they are controlling the lane...play it smart, sit back and relax, wait for them to make the mistake. Poppy cannot harass without placing herself in harms way. Have you partner if you have one harass if they are able. If not just sit back and farm the free gold at the safety of your turret. If the enemy makes the mistake of trying to get in a few attacks on turret, do what u do best, activate you speed boost and line up a Heroic Charge into terrain, allowing you apply damage with taking a ammount if any damage. This can quickly turn the tide of lane control, leaving them now on the defensive and you in control.

If you find yourself in the situation where you are low on health and someone turret dives you, 90% of the time you can make them regret that decision. If it one person turret diving you, let them get close, but not to close...You can line up a Heroic Charge into terrain and with your ability's + exhaust, ignite and your ulti with the turret on your side, you can quickly come out with a kill. Even if two people dive you and you have your ulti you can be surprised at how much damage you can pump out during the time they are stunned and Exhausted. Stunning one especially if they are squishy and Exhausting the other will allow you time to quickly apply your burst damage to the easier target to kill and begin to either run or focus your attention onto the other target. Remember 90% of the time you can out run your enemy once you have your boots and PoD, taking out the first one and then playing ring around the turret while the turret is hammering them until your charge is available will force them to flee or die most of the time.

Once you start to get into some life steal or extra attack speed, do a little bit of jungling when given the opportunity, it does not take long to stop and grab the Golems or Wolves and the extra gold is extremely handy for Poppy. Getting the Blue Buff just turns Poppy into a whole different champion. The 15% CRD from it is just amazing, allowing for a hefty increase of damage output, the Blue Buff also allows you to farm with your skills and quickly regen mana. That alone will make a huge difference in the rest of the outcome of the game.

Once people start flooding lanes to push towers around level 8-13 here is where your main role beings. Your job is to eliminate the most dangerous enemy they have, as fast as you can, and still be able to fight in the team fight. That alone can turn a slight win chance of a 4 v 5 or any outnumbered fight to a victory and a successfully tower push.

Most importantly understand that Poppy is still fragile, do not be the first person in your team blazing into a blob of enemy's, Let your tank do his job and initiate. Once the fight is just getting started you can quickly tell who needs to be eliminated and you can then line up a stun shot and by the time the stun/exhaust wears off they are already eliminated. Allowing them to throw an ability or two before you engage them will greatly increase your chances of doing your task at hand.

Remember, DO NOT get greedy, yes you have the ability to say no thank you to turret damage and all that fun stuff, but placing yourself surrounded by enemy's or low on health at the base of an enemy turret when your ulti is finished is not a place you want to be. You can quickly find yourself accomplishing nothing except a free ride back to the store and a long wait to get back into the fight.

Pay attention to your enemy's ability's. There is nothing else more annoying than throwing your ulti onto someone who is just gonna flash away. Do not use ulti to land simple kills. Your ulti is a huge game changer in team fights, and the cool down is not that short.

I hope this guide will help you current and future Poppy player's to take full advantage of the outrageous, unheard of, and annoying thing you can do to your enemy. I appreciate any votes or comments for or against this guide. Just keep in mind to please read and understand what this guide/build offers for Poppy players and the real role she plays in League of Legends.